- Ethereum raises gas limit to 32 million units, improving network throughput.
- Gas limit increase comes amid ETH’s recent market volatility.
- Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade will double layer-2 network capacity in 2025.
Ethereum has raised its gas limit for the first time since 2021, signaling a major step forward in boosting network capacity. This adjustment aims to improve transaction throughput and reduce congestion, making ETH more efficient and scalable.
Ethereum raises gas limit to 32 million
Ethereum has raised its gas limit for the first time since 2021. The adjustment increases Ethereum’s capacity to handle more transactions and complex operations, which can reduce network congestion. Majority of the validators approved the change automatically without requiring a hard fork.
The new gas limit reached 32 million units, with a maximum expected capacity of 36 million units. This change follows a previous increase in 2021 when the gas limit was raised from 15 million to 30 million units. Gas is a unit used to measure the computational energy required to perform actions like transactions or smart contract functions on the Ethereum network.
Impact of the gas limit increase
The increase in gas limit improves the network’s throughput by allowing more transactions to be processed in each block. The higher limit also reduces congestion during peak times, which often leads to higher transaction costs. This makes ETH more appealing for decentralized applications like decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that require stable and scalable networks.
Ethereum’s gas limit adjustment comes at a time of market volatility for the cryptocurrency. ETH recently faced a significant drop of over 17% of its value in one day due to broader economic factors. However, the recent gas limit change may help address some of these concerns by improving the network’s efficiency and capacity.
Although the gas limit increase is considered as a positive move, it remains controversial within the ETH community. Some critics have expressed concerns that increasing the gas limit too much could cause issues for network stability. Experts have pointed out that gas limits above 40 million could lead to performance challenges and hinder network growth.
However, Ethereum’s gas limit increase is a step forward for the network, especially with the Pectra upgrade scheduled for March 2025. The upgrade will enhance layer-2 networks by doubling their capacity. This should further improve Ethereum’s scalability, making it more competitive with other blockchains, such as Solana.
The gas limit change and network upgrades signal Ethereum’s continued development as a platform for decentralized applications and financial services. The network’s growing capacity may attract more users and investors, despite its recent downturn. The blockchain’s performance is expected to improve especially with the additional support from high-profile figures who have shown interest in the token.